Bon Voyage

7th-grade Ambassador On Way To Great Britain And Ireland

January 23, 2003|By BOBBIE WHITEHEAD Daily Press

Erika Maynard has a lot of plans to make. The 12-year-old student at John Yeates Middle School in Suffolk will join nearly 40 Hampton Roads middle school students going to Great Britain and Ireland in July as part of the People to People Student Ambassador Program. It's an international program established to encourage world peace.

To become an ambassador, community leaders or teachers must nominate students based on their grades and community work.

President Eisenhower established the program in the 1950s during a conference in Washington, D.C. The first ambassadors were adults. The first delegation of student ambassadors was in 1963. The student program helps students understand other cultures with the larger goal of working toward world peace.

From July 10 to July 30, Maynard and other area students will visit families and leaders in England, Ireland and Wales, where they will learn about the culture and school life there.

"The fun part is we'll visit castles, and we'll stay with a different family in each country

for three days," Maynard said. "We'll be going to school with the students there, and we'll act in plays."

But the trip isn't all fun and games, said her mother, Alex Butler. The students will keep a journal and share what they've learned after they return, Butler said.

The 12-year-old also enjoys playing on a Churchland basketball league and with the Bennett's Creek girls' softball league. She also sings with the John Yeates Middle School chorus.

She said this involvement has helped her learn about people and their problems and differences. As a Girl Scout with Suffolk Troop 817, Maynard and fellow Scouts spent time earning a badge to help people in need at Christmas, she said.

Her troop raised money to help provide a good Christmas for a local family in December by setting up a face-painting booth at their festival, Maynard said.

"I felt really glad," she said, "that we were doing this and that we were going to be raising money to make some child happy on Christmas Day."

ERIKA MAYNARD

Age: 12

Residence: Suffolk

Education: Seventh-grader at John Yeates Middle School

Family: Parents, Alex and Don Butler of Suffolk and Mike Maynard of Charlottesville

Miscellaneous: Likes to play softball and basketball, read mystery books and study algebra